This center is phenomenal. My twin boys started attending school there at the end of August. Our…read morefamily has been in the midst of painful transitions in the short time they've been there. They had a new baby brother, and then he passed away at 8 weeks. Needless to say, the transition has been tough. Never ONCE have I thought in a million years that they weren't having a great time at school and engaging and interacting in a fun way. Never once have I thought their anxiety was anything other than the awful changes in our household. Every teacher and administrator in there knows of the special challenges my family has been facing and goes ABOVE AND BEYOND to help my sons transition each day. They're doing so well there, and I can tell how much they're learning when they come home each day. I am so, so grateful for all the ladies at TLE Old St Augustine. I don't know how we'd be getting through this tough time without their love and support for my children and our family.
Aside from the gut-wrenching part of my review, I toured several day care facilities that had received good word-of-mouth among my extensive Mommy network and I just got the good vibes when I set foot in this one. I knew if I got good vibes, my boys would too. It's clean, the staff is excellent (I *believe* I was told that all teachers there have at least an associate's degree, and many have their bachelor's), there is ample outdoor play as well as arts and crafts and "free play" in the classroom, as well as more advanced technology training on computers and with their L.E.A.P. system (which is believe is what they call their proprietary curriculum--they have a proprietary curriculum, but I may be mixing up what it's called). If all you want is the least expensive child care you can find, it's not for you. It's expensive, but it's not *that* much more expensive than any day care, and your children are actually learning. I wanted a learning center, not a daycare. With the app, you can check in with your kids on your phone, see what they're doing, what they ate for lunch, how long they napped, etc. I love the pictures that the staff sends of them having fun.
What the other reviewer said about the part time option being expensive, while i can't verify the numbers, is generally true. . .part-time isn't that much cheaper than full time, and I can understand why. They still have to provide staff, so their overhead is the same if some students opt not to come all the time (they still have to hold that "spot" and increase their staff if the teacher-student ratio of 15:1--for 3-year-olds--or whatever it is, goes over). You're using as much of their resources if you come part-time as if you come full-time. Part-time day care, outside of a private babysitter or nanny-sharing, just doesn't exist. They're not different than anyone else in this regard. Furthermore, they are actually following a curriculum. . .they don't like children to miss or come part-time because they're actually learning and they want to build on previous lessons, etc. They don't even like you to drop off after 11 AM for the same reason, they want them there to participate in the structured day of learning they have in store for them. The center will give you a tuition waiver for one week of vacation as year, however, so you can get a little break there.
